Annan arrives in Damascus, Syria tests missiles
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Kofi Annan arrived in Damascus on Sunday evening for talks with President Bashar al-Assad, his spokesman said, a day after the international peace envoy admitted that his peace plan had so far failed to end 16 months of bloodshed.
Syria's
navy fired live missiles from ships and helicopters over the weekend,
in an exercise aiming at demonstrating its ability to "defend Syria's
shores against any possible aggression", state media said.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
said Syrian opposition forces were growing more effective and the
sooner the violence ended, the better were the chances of sparing
Syria's government from a "catastrophic assault" by rebel fighters.
Assad said U.S. political support
for "terrorists" was hindering Annan's peace plan and accused several
Middle Eastern countries of supplying the rebels with arms and other
support.
Syrian television aired video of a variety of missiles being fired from launchers on land and from ships, with Defence Minister Dawud Abdallah Rahijia in attendance.
"Naval Forces
conducted an operational live fire exercise on Saturday, using missiles
launched from the sea and coast, helicopters and missile boats,
simulating a scenario of repelling a sudden attack from the sea," Syrian
news agency SANA said, adding that maneuvers would continue for several
days.
Opposition figures have called for a no-fly zone and NATO strikes against Syrian forces, similar to those carried out in Libya last year which enabled rebel ground forces to end the rule of Muammar Gaddafi.
But while Assad has
faced sanctions and international condemnation over his crackdown on
dissent which has left thousands dead, major Western and Arab powers
have shied away from direct military action.
Turkey has
reinforced its border and scrambled fighter aircraft several times since
Syria shot down a Turkish reconnaissance jet on June 22 over what
Damascus said were Syrian territorial waters in the Mediterranean.
Ankara said the incident occurred in international air space.
"SAND IS RUNNING OUT"
"The sooner there can be an end to the violence and a
beginning of a political transition process, not only will fewer people
die, but there is a chance to save the Syrian state from a catastrophic
assault that would be very dangerous not only to Syria but to the
region," Clinton told a Tokyo news conference.
She appeared to be
referring to the possibility of Syrian rebels launching such an assault
on state institutions rather than to any outside intervention.
"There is no doubt
that the opposition is getting more effective in their defence of
themselves and in going on the offence against the Syrian military and
the Syrian government's militias. So, the future ... should be
abundantly clear to those who support the Assad regime," Clinton added.
"The sand is running out of the hour glass."
In an interview due
to be broadcast on German television later on Sunday, Assad said
countries providing material and political support to the rebels were
hindering Annan's peace plan.
"We know that
(Annan) is coming up against countless obstacles but his plan should not
be allowed to fail, it is a very good plan," Assad told German
television channel Das Erste.
Assad accused Saudi
Arabia and Qatar of providing weapons to the rebels and Turkey of
giving logistical help to smuggle in supplies.
"The biggest
obstacle is that many countries do not even want this plan to succeed so
they offer political support and continue to provide the terrorists in
Syria with arms and money," Assad said, according to a transcript in
German of the interview conducted in English on July 5.
More than 30 people
were killed on Sunday during a government bombardment and clashes
between Syrian forces and Free Syrian Army rebels fighting to oust
Assad, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Activists reported
heavy shelling in residential areas of Deir al-Zor city and in Deraa
province, the birthplace of the revolt near the Jordanian border.
Rami Abdelrahman,
head of the Observatory, said residents of al-Sharifa in the wider Deir
al-Zor province were reporting that rebels had for the first time taken
over a tank and were using it to attack army positions.
The rebels have gained confidence in recent weeks,
staging bolder attacks, holding pockets of territory across the country
and clashing with troops only a few miles from the presidential palace
in Damascus.
NO GUARANTEE OF SUCCESS
Annan arrived with
deputy Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad at the Dama Rose hotel in
the capital, where U.N. observers have been staying since suspending
their patrols because of a steep increase in the level of violence.
U.N. and government sources said Annan and Assad would not meet on Sunday."Clearly, we have not succeeded. And maybe there is no guarantee that we will succeed," Annan told the French daily le Monde in an interview published on Saturday.
He said that Western criticism of Russia was diverting attention from the role of other countries in backing Assad and arming his soldiers, notably Iran. Assad has been Shi'ite Iran's main ally in the Arab world.
"Russia has influence, but I don't think that events will be determined by Russia alone. What strikes me is that there is so much talk about Russia and much less about Iran, and little is said about other countries that are sending money and weapons," Annan said.
Sunni Gulf states Saudi Arabia and Qatar have called for the arming and funding of the rebel forces.
"All these countries say they want a peaceful solution, but they undertake individual and collective actions that undermine the very meaning of (U.N.) Security Council resolutions," he added.
(Additional reporting by Marwan Makdessi in Damascus and Arshad Mohammed in Tokyo; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)
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